Teens of Style is the ninth studio album by American indie rock band Car Seat Headrest, released on October 30, 2015. It is their first album as a full band, and first release under Matador Records. Intended as an introductory compilation for new listeners, it features reworked, newly recorded versions of songs originally released between 2010 and 2012, with the addition of one new composition.
| Teens of Style | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | ||||
| Compilation album / studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 30, 2015 | |||
| Recorded | February 28 – June 7, 2015 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock, lo-fi | |||
| Length | 46:47 | |||
| Label | Matador | |||
| Producer | Will Toledo | |||
| Car Seat Headrest chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Teens of Style | ||||
| ||||
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The A.V. Club | A−[3] |
| Pitchfork | 8.1/10[4] |
| Rolling Stone | [5] |
| MusicOMH | [6] |
Background and recording
editFrom the description of the "No Passion" music video, Teens of Style is a collection of older Car Seat Headrest songs, rerecorded in 2015 to make a sonically expanded new release.
From Interview magazine, "At the time that I was originally recording the songs, I don't think I considered them to be the final versions, [...] They were just self-recorded and I wanted to do them properly at some point."[7]
Speaking with Stereogum, Toledo said: "I’d had the idea for a while, including when I was originally recording them; it felt like the best I could do at the time, rather than something I’d really be happy with forever. That was part of the appeal with digital albums, is that they could feel less ‘official’, and I could mess with them long after their technical release date. I often went back and tweaked stuff on past albums I felt could be better, but I also wanted to do a more comprehensive overhaul of the best of it, to give it new life. And I'd always thought ‘studio’ when thinking of that, but by the time Matador came around I felt I was working well enough in the home environment to do the first album that way, and that's what ended up happening. Everything on Teens Of Style I recorded and produced myself. We got a professional, Abe Seiferth, to mix the drums and bass for Something Soon, but everything else is me. I figured this would be my last chance to do something that still sounded & felt like the ‘old’ Car Seat Headrest before we started doing bigger work."[8]
Performers on the album include the live lineup from the time of Car Seat Headrest's signing with Matador; Andrew Katz plays drums, and Jacob Bloom plays bass.
Accolades
edit| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2015[9] | 2015 | 39 |
| Rolling Stone | The 50 Best Albums of 2015[10] | 2015 | 30 |
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Will Toledo
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sunburned Shirts" (from My Back Is Killing Me Baby) | 4:05 |
| 2. | "The Drum" (from My Back Is Killing Me Baby) | 3:57 |
| 3. | "Something Soon" (from My Back Is Killing Me Baby) | 4:20 |
| 4. | "No Passion" (from My Back Is Killing Me Baby) | 2:50 |
| 5. | "Times to Die" (from Monomania) | 6:50 |
| 6. | "Psst, Teenagers, Take Off Your Clo" (from 3) | 1:00 |
| 7. | "Strangers" (from My Back Is Killing Me Baby) | 5:39 |
| 8. | "Maud Gone" (from Monomania) | 5:58 |
| 9. | "Los Borrachos (I Don't Have Any Hope Left, But the Weather is Nice)" (from Monomania) | 6:23 |
| 10. | "Bad Role Models, Old Idols Exhumed (psst, teenagers, put your clothes back o)" | 1:54 |
| 11. | "Oh! Starving" (from 3 and Starving While Living) | 3:51 |
| Total length: | 46:52 | |
Personnel
editCar Seat Headrest
- Will Toledo – all vocals and instruments except:
- Andrew Katz – drums
- Jacob Bloom – bass
Additional musicians
- Amanda Schiano di Cola – trumpet (tracks 5, 10)
- Eleni Govetas – saxophone (track 8)
Production
- Will Toledo – production, mixing
- Abe Seiferth – additional mixing (track 3)
- Degnan Smith – East Coast recordings, unsolicited vocals
- Stewart Piccolo – additional dialogues
- JJ Golden – mastering
- Max Wedner – illustration
- Mike Zimmerman – design and colour
Charts
edit| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11] | 117 |
| US Heatseeker Albums[12] | 19 |
References
edit- ^ "Critic Reviews for Teens of Style". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
- ^ Sendra, Tim. "Teens of Style. - Car Seat Headrest". AllMusic. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
- ^ Fortune, Drew (October 30, 2015). "Car Seat Headrest comes of age on woozy, wonderful Teens of Style". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
- ^ Gordon, Jeremy (March 23, 2015). "Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Style". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ Hermes, Will (March 24, 2015). "Bedroom-recording prodigy rifles brilliantly through decades of rock history with verve and power". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ "Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Style - Album Reviews - musicOMH". www.musicomh.com. 26 October 2015.
- ^ "Discovery: Car Seat Headrest". interviewmagazine.com. 30 October 2015.
- ^ "Band To Watch: Car Seat Headrest". stereogum.com. 1 September 2015.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". stereogum.com. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". rollingstone.com. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Style" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
- ^ "Car Seat Headrest – Chart history (Heatseeker Albums)". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 1, 2016.